How Is Mesopotamia Similar

The following paper serves to compare and contrast the civilizations of Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. These civilizations are similar and different in many different ways. Strengths and weaknesses of both Mesopotamia and Egypt will be compared as well as the important lessons we can learn from the mistakes that ultimately lead to the collapse of two great empires.
Mesopotamia and Egypt shared many different similarities. . Both countries were polytheistic meaning a belief in many gods. Government was linked to the religious beliefs of gods that were in control. The people of these countries believed the gods would provide protection and guidance in leading their countries to world dominance. Another similarity of both included the existence of social hierarchies. Ancient Mesopotamians believed in a hierarchy with …show more content…
Mesopotamian kings claimed to have a direct relationship with the gods, while pharaohs were worshiped and were viewed as god-like. The location of Mesopotamia was more vulnerable and open to attack than Egypt. The location of Egypt was surrounded by sea, deserts, and cataracts that served as barriers protecting the country from enemy invasion. There were also religious differences between the two civilizations. In Egypt, pharaohs had to follow a spiritual principle called Ma’at that entrusted a duty to pursue truth, justice, order, and harmony. Egypt was divided into provinces called Nomes with 22 Nomes in Upper Egypt, 20 Nomes in lower Egypt. Each nome employed a governor known as a Nomarch. Many of the Nomarchs eventually became powerful enough to rival the pharaoh which ultimately lead to internal rivalry, economic difficulties, and collapse of the kingdom. Mesopotamians did not employ spiritual principles that coexisted with government rule. Mesopotamia was split up into city states and did not have separate rulers for each city